Early life and education

Dennis and Elizabeth Kucinich in 2008

Kucinich was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on October 8, 1946, as the eldest of the seven children of Virginia (née Norris) and Frank J. Kucinich.[1][2] His father, a truck driver, was of Croat ancestry; his Irish American mother was a homemaker.[3] Growing up, his family moved 21 times and Dennis was often charged with the responsibility of finding apartments they could afford.[4]

Early political career

Kucinich's political career began in 1967 when he ran unsuccessfully for office. In 1969, Kucinich was elected to the Cleveland City Council at the age of twenty-three.[3] In 1972, Kucinich ran for a House of Representatives seat, losing narrowly to incumbent RepublicanWilliam E. Minshall Jr. After Minshall's retirement in 1974 Kucinich sought the seat again, this time failing to get the Democratic nomination, which instead went to Ronald M. Mottl. Kucinich ran as an Independent candidate in the general election, placing third with about 30% of the vote. In 1975, Kucinich became clerk of the municipal court in Cleveland and served in that position for two years.[7]

After Kucinich refused to sell Municipal Light (now Cleveland Public Power), Cleveland's publicly ownedelectric utility, the Cleveland mafia put out a hit on Kucinich. A hit man from Maryland planned to shoot him in the head during the Columbus DayParade, but the plot fell apart when Kucinich was hospitalized and missed the event. When the city fell into default shortly thereafter, the mafia leaders called off the contract killer.[11] Specifically, it was the Cleveland Trust Company that suddenly required all of the city's debts be paid in full, which forced the city into default, after news of Kucinich's refusal to sell the city utility. For years, these debts were routinely rolled over, pending future payment, until Kucinich's announcement was made public. In 1998, the Cleveland City Council honored him for having had the "courage and foresight" to stand up to the banks, which saved the city an estimated $195 million between 1985 and 1995.[12]

Post-mayoralty

After losing his re-election bid for Mayor to George Voinovich in 1979, Kucinich initially kept a low profile in Cleveland politics. He criticized a tax referendum proposed by Voinovich in 1980, which voters eventually approved. He also struggled to find employment and moved to Los Angeles, California, where he stayed with a friend, actress Shirley MacLaine.[13] During the next three years, Kucinich worked as a radio talk-show host, lecturer, and consultant.[5] It was a difficult period for Kucinich financially. Without a steady paycheck, Kucinich fell behind in his mortgage payments, nearly lost his house in Cleveland, and ended up borrowing money from friends, including MacLaine, to keep it.[13] On his 1982 income tax return, Kucinich reported an income of $38.[13] When discussing this period, Kucinich stated, "When I was growing up in Cleveland, my early experience conditioned me to hang in there and not to quit... It's one thing to experience that as a child, but when you have to as an adult, it has a way to remind you how difficult things can be. You understand what people go through."[13]

In 1985, there was some speculation that Kucinich might run for mayor again. Instead, his brother Gary ran against (and lost to) the incumbent Voinovich. Kucinich, meanwhile, gave up his council position to run for Governor of Ohio as an independent against Richard Celeste, but later withdrew from the race. After this, Kucinich, in his own words "on a quest for meaning," lived quietly in New Mexico until 1994, when he won a seat in the Ohio State Senate.

House of Representatives

In 1996, Kucinich was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, representing the 10th district of Ohio. He defeated two-term Republican incumbent Martin Hoke by three percentage points. He would never face another general election contest nearly that close, and would be re-elected seven times.[14]

Domestic policy voting record

In 2008, Kucinich introduced articles of impeachment in the House of Representatives against President George W. Bush for the invasion and occupation of Iraq.[15]

Although his voting record is not always in line with that of the Democratic Party, on March 17, 2010, after being courted by President Barack Obama, his wife and others, he reluctantly agreed to vote with his colleagues for the Healthcare Bill without a public option component.[16]

Foreign policy record

Kucinich is a supporter of a non-interventionist foreign policy and has referred to war as a profitable racket.[19]

In a visit to the rest of the Middle East in September 2007, Kucinich said he did not visit Iraq because "I feel the United States is engaging in an illegal occupation."[20] Kucinich was criticized for his visit to Syria and praise of the President Bashar al-Assad on Syria's national TV.[21] He praised Syria for taking in Iraqi refugees. "What most people are not aware of is that Syria has taken in more than 1.5 million Iraqi refugees," Kucinich said. "The Syrian government has actually shown a lot of compassion in keeping its doors open, and being a host for so many refugees."[22]

In March 2011, Kucinich criticized the Obama administration's decision to participate in the UN intervention in Libya without Congressional authorization. He also called it an "indisputable fact" that President Obama's decision is an impeachable offense since he believes the U.S. Constitution "does not provide for the president to wage war any times he pleases," although he has not yet introduced a resolution to impeach Obama.[23] In response, Libyan officials invited Kucinich to visit that country on a "peace mission", but he declined, stating that he "could not negotiate on behalf of the administration."[24]

Kucinich was criticized during his 2004 campaign for changing his stance on the issue of abortion.[17] His explanation was "I've always worked to make abortions less necessary, through sex education and birth control. But the direction that Congress has taken, increasingly, is to make it impossible for women to be able to have an abortion if they need to protect their health. So when I saw the direction taken, it finally came to the point where I understood that women will not be truly free unless they have the right to choose."[25]

On December 10, 2003, the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) announced the removal of its correspondents from the campaigns of Kucinich, Carol Moseley Braun and Al Sharpton.[26] Kucinich, previously critical of the limited coverage given his campaign, characterized ABC's decision as an example of media companies' power to shape campaigns by choosing which candidates to cover and questioned its timing, coming immediately after the debate.[26]ABC News, while stating its commitment to give coverage to a wide range of candidates, argued that focusing more of its "finite resources" on those candidates most likely to win would best serve the public debate.[27]

In the Iowa caucuses, he finished fifth, receiving about 1% of the state delegates from Iowa; far below the 15% threshold for receiving national delegates. He performed similarly in the New Hampshire primary, placing sixth among the seven candidates with 1% of the vote. In the Mini-Tuesday primaries, he finished near the bottom in most states, with his best performance in New Mexico, where he received less than 6% of the vote, and still no delegates. Kucinich's best showing in any Democratic contest was in the February 24 Hawaii caucus, in which he won 31% of caucus participants, coming in second place to SenatorJohn Kerry of Massachusetts and winning Maui County, the only county won by Kucinich in either of his presidential campaigns. He also saw a double-digit showing in Maine on February 8, where he received 16% percent in that state's caucus. On Super Tuesday, March 2, Kucinich gained another strong showing with the Minnesota caucus, where 17% of the ballots went to him. In his home state of Ohio, he received 9% in the primary. Kucinich campaigned heavily in Oregon, spending 30 days there during the two months leading up to the state's May 18 primary. He continued his campaign because "the future direction of the Democratic Party has not yet been determined"[28] and chose to focus on Oregon "because of its progressive tradition and its pioneering spirit."[29] He won 16% of the vote.

Even after Kerry won enough delegates to secure the nomination, Kucinich continued to campaign until just before the convention, citing an effort to help shape the agenda of the Democratic Party. He was the last candidate to end his campaign. He endorsed Kerry on July 22, four days before the start of the Democratic National Convention.[30]

2008

On December 11, 2006, in a speech delivered at Cleveland City Hall, Kucinich announced he would seek the nomination of the Democratic Party for President in 2008.

Kucinich told his supporters in Iowa that if he did not appear on the second ballot in any caucus that they should back Barack Obama.[31][32]

At an October 2007 debate, NBC's Tim Russert cited a passage from a book by Shirley MacLaine in which the author writes that Kucinich had seen a UFO. Asked if it was true, Kucinich confirmed it.[33] In November 2007, Larry Flynt hosted a fundraiser for Kucinich which drew criticism from Flynt's detractors. Campaign representatives declined to comment.[34][35] Kucinich was endorsed by author Gore Vidal and actor Viggo Mortensen.[36][37] In January 2008, Kucinich asked for a New Hampshire recount based on alleged discrepancies between the machine-counted ballots and the hand-counted ballots. He stated that he wanted to make sure "100% of the voters had 100% of their votes counted."[38]

In January 2008, Kucinich was excluded from a Democratic presidential debate on MSNBC due to his poor showing in the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries. A ruling that the debate could not go ahead without Kucinich was overturned on appeal.[39] Later that month, Kucinich dropped out of the race, and did not endorse any other candidate. He later endorsed Barack Obama after he had won the nomination.[40][41]

Congressional campaigns

Until 2012, Kucinich had always been reelected to Congress by sound margins in his strongly Democratic-leaning districts, and had up until this election far won primary challenges against him for the Democratic nomination convincingly.

2006

Kucinich defeated another Democratic primary challenger by a wide margin and defeated Republican Mike Dovilla in the general election with 66% of the vote.

2008

His opponents included Cleveland City Councilman Joe Cimperman and North Olmsted Mayor Thomas O'Grady. In February 2008 Kucinich raised around $50,000 compared to Cimperman's $228,000,[43] but through a YouTube money raising campaign he managed to raise $700,000, surpassing Cimperman's $487,000.[44][45]

Cimperman, who was endorsed by the Mayor of Cleveland and The Plain Dealer, criticized Kucinich for focusing too much on campaigning for president and not on the district. Kucinich accused Cimperman of representing corporate and real estate interests. Cimperman described Kucinich as an absentee congressman who failed to pass any major legislative initiatives in his 12-year House career. In an interview, Cimperman said he was tired of Kucinich and Cleveland being joke fodder for late-night talk-show hosts, saying: "It's time for him to go home."[46][47] An ad paid for by Cimperman's campaign stated that Kucinich has missed over 300 votes, but checking the ad's source revealed that the actual number was 139.[48] However, Kucinich is well known for his constituency service.[49] It was also suggested that Kucinich's calls for universal health care and an immediate withdrawal from Iraq made him a thorn in the side of the Democrats' congressional leadership, as well as his refusal to pledge to support the eventual presidential nominee, which he later reconsidered.[46]

Kucinich took part in a debate with the other primary challengers. Barbara Ferris criticized him for not bringing as much money back to the district as other area legislators and authoring just one bill that passed during his 12 years in Congress. Kucinich responded: "It was a Republican Congress and there weren't many Democrats passing meaningful legislation during a Republican Congress."[50]

Kucinich won the primary, receiving 68,156 votes out of 135,589 cast to beat Cimperman 52% to 33%.[51]

2012

Redistricting after the 2010 census eliminated Kucinich's district. The new map drew Kucinich's home into the Toledo-based 9th District, represented since 1983 by fellow Democrat Marcy Kaptur. Kucinich had been endorsed by another House member, Barney Frank of Massachusetts.[54] The two competed in the Democratic primary on March 6, 2012, with Graham Veysey, a small-business owner from Cleveland, also on that ballot. Kaptur won the primary with 56% of the vote, while Kucinich received 40%.[55][56] In the general election, with 73% of the vote, Kaptur won a 16th term against Republican Samuel "Joe the Plumber" Wurzelbacher and Libertarian Sean Stipe.[57]

Kucinich had been mentioned frequently as a possible 2012 candidate for Congress in the state of Washington in its newly created 10th district, but he ultimately decided to retire from Congress when his term ended in January 2013.[58][59][60]

2018 gubernatorial campaign

In January 2018, Kucinich announced he would run for Governor of Ohio in the 2018 election.[61] Tara Samples, an Akron city councilwoman, was his running mate.[62]Our Revolution, a grassroots progressive organization founded by Bernie Sanders, endorsed Kucinich, but Bernie Sanders opted not to endorse him.[63] Kucinich finished the primary race second to Democratic gubernatorial nominee Richard Cordray, 62.3 percent to 22.9 percent.[64]

Abortion

Prior to 2002, Kucinich's voting record was strongly anti-choice, but he currently maintains a pro-choice stance on abortion. In 1996, he was quoted as saying that "life begins at conception", and he has also voted in favor of banning partial birth abortion and preventing the transport of minors to undergo abortion procedures. However, since then he has been a strong supporter of abortion rights. He said in a 2003 interview that he had a "journey" regarding the abortion issue which "caused me to break from a voting record that had not been pro-choice".[75]

Calling it "a sworn duty" of Congress to act, co-sponsor Robert Wexler stated: "President Bush deliberately created a massive propaganda campaign to sell the war in Iraq to the American people and the charges detailed in this impeachment resolution indicate an unprecedented abuse of executive power."[79] On July 10, 2008, Kucinich introduced an additional article of impeachment accusing Bush of misleading Congress into war.[80][81] On July 14, 2008 Kucinich introduced a new resolution of impeachment against George W. Bush, charging him with manufacturing evidence to sway public opinion in favor of the war in Iraq. This resolution was also sent to the judiciary committee.

Attempted impeachment of Dick Cheney

On April 17, 2007, Kucinich sent a letter to his Democratic colleagues saying that he planned to file impeachment proceedings against Dick Cheney, then Vice President of the United States.[82] Kucinich planned to introduce the impeachment articles on April 24, 2007, but in light of Cheney's visit to his doctor for an inspection of a blood clot, Kucinich decided to postpone the scheduled press conference "until the vice president's condition is clarified."[83]

Kucinich held a press conference on the evening of April 24, 2007, revealing House Resolution 333 and the three articles of impeachment against Cheney. He charged Cheney with manipulating the evidence of Iraq's weapons program, deceiving the nation about Iraq's connection to al-Qaeda, and threatening aggression against Iran in violation of the United Nations charter. Kucinich opened his press conference by quoting from the Declaration of Independence, and stated: "I believe the Vice President's conduct of office has been destructive to the founding purposes of our nation. Today, I have introduced House Resolution 333, Articles of Impeachment Relating to Vice President Richard B. Cheney. I do so in defense of the rights of the American people to have a government that is honest and peaceful."[84]

On November 6, 2007, Kucinich used special parliamentary procedure and moved for a vote on impeaching the Vice President.[85]House Majority LeaderSteny Hoyer and House Speaker Pelosi opposed the measure and stood by previous comments that "impeachment is not on our agenda," and they initially moved to table the bill. When that attempt failed, Mr. Hoyer quickly moved to refer the bill to the House Judiciary Committee. That motion succeeded.[85]

Barack Obama

In March 2011, Kucinich said that President Obama's decision to approve air strikes against Gaddafi's forces in the Libyan Civil War was an "impeachable offense."[86][87][88]

Civil liberties

Kucinich has opposed the USA PATRIOT Act since its inception. He voted against the act in 2001, and against its renewal in 2006. He voted for an amendment to the constitution outlawing flag burning and desecration, however he has since taken up the opposite stance and voted against a similar amendment in 2005.[89]

Donald Trump

Kucinich has praised and defended President Donald Trump in Fox News appearances.[63] Kucinich praised Trump's inaugural speech, saying it was "GREAT" and a "message of unity"; others had characterized the speech as dark.[90][91][91][87]

According to The Washington Post, Kucinich "was a rare left-wing voice attacking "the deep state" for undermining the president."[63] On Sean Hannity's show, Kucinich said that he believed that there was a deep state intelligence community working against President Trump and that it was "very dangerous to America", "a threat to our republic" and "a clear and present danger to our way of life."[87] In February 2017, Kucinich defended Michael Flynn, saying that he was treated unfairly by the intelligence community; in December 2017, Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.[92][91] Kucinich defended Trump's claims that he was being wiretapped; Kucinich claimed that he himself had been wiretapped.[93]

Kucinich has defended Trump's efforts to improve relations with Russia.[91]

Kucinich, who attempted to impeach Bush and Cheney, and said that Barack Obama had done impeachable offenses, criticized some House Democrats for attempting to start impeachment proceedings against President Trump.[88] He said, "The Democratic Party had best be identified with something more than impeachment."[88] He said that efforts to assess Trump's mental and physical fitness to be president was "destroying the party as an effective opposition."[87]

Environment and energy

Kucinich had a 100% rating during 2005 and 2006 from the League of Conservation Voters, indicating pro-environment votes.[94] He has stated that clean water is "a basic human right".[95]

Guns

Health care

Kucinich believes that health care is a "right in a democratic society".[102] He is a critic of the for-profit health insurance and pharmaceutical industries in the United States, and is concerned about the large number of uninsured and underinsured in the United States.[74] He contends that if the overhead related to the for-profit insurance system, such as "stock options, executive salaries, [and] advertising", were used for medically necessary care, he says, there would be enough money in the system to cover all people at no extra cost.[102]

Military intervention in Libya

Kucinich objected to the 2011 military intervention in Libya missile strikes and questioned whether they weren't impeachable offenses. Kucinich also questioned why Democratic leaders didn't object when President Barack Obama told them of his plan for US participation in enforcing the Libyan no-fly zone. He said Obama's action in Libya was "a grave decision that cannot be made by the president alone", and stated that failing to first seek approval of Congress was in violation of the Constitution.[108][109]

On August 31, Al Jazeera reported that a document had been found in the headquarters of the Libyan intelligence agency which according to the author appears to be a summary of a conversation between Kucinich and an intermediary for Saif al-Islam Gaddafi in which the congressman asked for information about the anti-Gaddafi National Transitional Council (NTC), possible links of it to al-Qaeda and corruption evidences, to lobby US lawmakers to put an end to NATO airstrikes and suspend their support for the NTC.[110] It also listed information necessary to defend Saif al-Islam against International Criminal Court war crimes charges.[110] Kucinich defended himself in a message to The Atlantic Wire, saying that the document in question is simply a summary of Kucinich's public positions on the Libyan campaign by a Libyan bureaucrat who never consulted with Kucinich himself. "Al Jazeera found a document written by a Libyan bureaucrat to other Libyan bureaucrats. All it proves is that the Libyans were reading the Washington Post... Any implication I was doing anything other than trying to bring an end to an unauthorised war is fiction."[110][111]

LGBT rights

Syria and Bashar al-Assad

Kucinich has on a number of occasions met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and defended him.[114][115][116] Kucinich defended al-Assad's actions in the Syrian Civil War.[115] Asked how he could defend a war criminal, Kucinich said that the choice was either between letting ISIS take over Syria or "try to stabilize the region and let the people of Syria make their own decisions about who their leaders are going to be".[115] He helped Fox News get an interview with Bashar al-Assad.[114]

In October 2016, Kucinich warned against a prospective United States military intervention against Russia in Syria.[117] He argued that "a concerted effort is being made through fearmongering, propaganda, and lies to prepare our country for a dangerous confrontation, with Russia in Syria."[118] He said that Russia was being demonized as part of a "calculated plan to resurrect a raison d’être for stone-cold warriors trying to escape from the dustbin of history by evoking the specter of Russian world domination."[118]

Trade

Kucinich has consistently opposed free trade on the grounds that it costs American jobs and enables abusive working conditions in other countries.[119]

Youth rights

In a Democratic debate during the 2008 Presidential Election, Kucinich and Mike Gravel were the only two candidates who favored lowering the legal drinking age to 18 as it is in the vast majority of the world. Kucinich further said that the voting age should be lowered to 16.[120]

Recognition

After Kucinich lost to Marcy Kaptur in the 2012 Democratic primary, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) said of Kucinich, "At the end of the day, we’re really going to miss Dennis. Dennis is a transformative leader. He stood up and spoke eloquently, passionately about Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran. He was a consistent voice for peace... He almost didn’t vote for the health care bill because it wasn’t good enough."[121]

Kucinich was raised with four brothers, Larry, Frank, Gary and Perry; and two sisters, Theresa and Beth Ann. Perry Kucinich, the youngest brother, died in December 2007.[126] His youngest sister, Beth Ann Kucinich died in November 2008.[127]

In 2011, he sued a Capitol Hill cafeteria for damages after a 2008 incident in which he claimed to have suffered a severe injury when he bit into a sandwich and broke a tooth on an olive pit. The broken tooth became infected, and complications led to three surgeries for dental work. The lawsuit, which had claimed $150,000 in punitive damages, was settled with the defendant agreeing to pay for the representative's costs.[128]

^"Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2006-11-22. Retrieved 2007-02-06.CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link) 'Boy Mayor' Kucinich Took Charge in Utility Debt Crisis, From LA Times, January 23, 2003